Questions tagged [closing]
The process by which users can vote a question closed if it is off-topic or otherwise disallowed by the FAQ.
106
questions
59
votes
5answers
4k views
Is it appropriate to downvote answers for the sake of deleting a question?
I have noticed that sometimes answers are downvoted in order to cause the automatic deletion of a question by the community user. In particular, there are closed questions with $1$-point answers - ...
14
votes
1answer
440 views
Original post marked as duplicate
I was just asked to review a question that was posted in 2010, and that has now been closed as a duplicate of a more recent post (this was closed in favour of this).
Is it normal and/or accepted for ...
24
votes
2answers
1k views
Why close old questions with accepted answers using the “no context” reason?
Recently, I have noticed there is an increasing number of closings (or at least, close votes) on questions like this one. That is, archaic questions with accepted answers, which do not match the "...
17
votes
5answers
1k views
How close a match we need to close a recurring question as a duplicate?
An hour ago I closed a question as a duplicate of an, in my opinion appropriate, generic question. Two gold badge holders have since expressed disagreement with my decision, and the question has since ...
3
votes
0answers
267 views
On deleting vs. closing duplicate questions.
Recently a question was deleted by the OP after it was pointed out in comments that it was a duplicate. I was in the process of composing an answer, but I was not able to post it when I finished since ...
46
votes
0answers
667 views
When closing question for lack of effort, leave a comment to OP explaining what to do
Recently there was an extensive discussion about closing the questions containing only the problem statement: http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/9201/proposal-discourage-questions-that-are-...
15
votes
3answers
1k views
Proof Verification of Open Problems
Over the past few days, I've noticed several proof verification questions regarding open problems. On one, quid left the comment:
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it asks for ...
38
votes
1answer
1k views
Why do I have superpowers?
I just voted to close a question as a duplicate, and it got immediately closed.
How?? Why?? Should I use these powers for good, or for evil?
Is the "set" of all algebraic extensions a ...
14
votes
0answers
276 views
Should “missing context” be under “off topic?”
Has anyone else has wondered why the "missing context" close reason is labeled under "off topic?" After all, here's the description for "off topic" close reasons in general:
Off topic: This ...
12
votes
3answers
421 views
Why is a question needing more details called “off-topic”?
When voting to close, under "off-topic" we have
This question is missing context or other details: Please improve the question by providing additional context, which ideally includes your thoughts ...
27
votes
10answers
3k views
Closing questions that show no effort - official policy?
I can't figure out what I think about this. Again (https://math.stackexchange.com/revisions/351591/1) someone just copied and pasted a question without showing any work at all. There is nothing about ...
11
votes
1answer
517 views
Why is the close-vote review flooded with old questions?
The queue for close votes is currently filled with months-old questions, and is quite large - when I recently clicked on the queue, there were $39$ items waiting for review. Of the first $10$ or so ...
7
votes
1answer
305 views
edit and rephrase or ask new question?
If neither the commentators nor I (meanwhile) are happy with my question, should I edit it completely or post a new one? (how do I close the fist one then?)
37
votes
5answers
2k views
Is it appropriate to close every question that doesn't show efforts and/or lacks of context?
Yesterday this question was asked: Finding solutions to $2^x+17=y^2$, then it was closed and finally it was reopened. My concern is about if every question showing no effort or lacking of context ...
5
votes
1answer
169 views
What is the difference between voting to close as a duplicate and flagging as a duplicate?
I am aware that to flag you only need 15 reputation points. Only users with 3k+ reputation can cast votes.
If a post is flagged as duplicate, what happens then? In particular, what is different from ...
45
votes
4answers
854 views
Downvoting vs voting to close on Meta
It's perfectly legitimate to downvote posts here on Meta with proposals one disagrees with — but looks like nowadays some people vote to close just because they disagree with proposal.
A couple of ...
19
votes
2answers
489 views
Closure wars are caused by asymmetrical close/reopen voting process.
The close/reopen voting system has an asymmetry that promotes closure wars on meta and is vulnerable to abuse.
Once the first vote to close is cast, the matter of a question's survival is raised ...
7
votes
1answer
490 views
What should I do when I find circularity among duplicates?
Occasionally, when trying to vote to close some question, you get the error message: ...
9
votes
2answers
339 views
Duplicate banner breaks LaTeX
On several recent occasions, after closing a question as a possible duplicate the automatic banner breaks the $\LaTeX$ requiring manual intervening.
I don't recall it was like that before, and I ...
3
votes
4answers
613 views
Ban or delay close votes from users who answered a question
Where a user has answered a question, I propose that either
that user cannot vote to close the question
or
the user's close vote ability is suspended on that question for one week
...
13
votes
1answer
395 views
What to do with questions that are exact duplicates from MathOverflow?
It sometimes happens that at question asked here already has an answer on MathOverflow. It has been suggested in the Meta.MSE here that a feature should be introduced to close such questions as ...
10
votes
5answers
1k views
User answering poor question while also voting to close
Context
Tonight I witnessed conduct from a reputable user that I find outrageous. I won’t name names, but as the individual’s identity could be determined by tracing my activity anyways, I’ll include ...
27
votes
1answer
508 views
Allow closing as duplicate for new questions
One of the changes to the closure system in the recent revamp was that to close something as a duplicate, the suggested duplicate needs to have an upvoted answer.
I suppose that's a good thing when ...
10
votes
1answer
464 views
What to do with a “check/simplify my proof” type question?
After doing reading on the meta I have come to realise that asking for a verification of a proof is not necessarily a good idea. Among other reasons, it has a fair chance to be left without an answer. ...
37
votes
0answers
1k views
New changes to close reasons
Not long ago, we had to adapt to the circumstances at hand regarding the changes to how close reasons were displayed. You can read more about this here.
We now have other changes. A good place to ...
24
votes
3answers
939 views
Too quick to close
A new user posted an unclear question, Proving that $\dim(\mathrm{span}({I_n,A,A^2,...})) \leq n$ Within an hour, it got closed.
That's exactly what ought to happen --- on MathOverflow, where one ...
15
votes
1answer
621 views
Can we finally kill .999=1?
This has been mentioned before (notably, here by Akhil). But this question is tenacious indeed. For the past three(maybe four days), it has jumped up to the top. Frankly, I am tired of seeing it. I ...
3
votes
1answer
111 views
How should we handle cross-site duplicates?
There are some questions which are answered quite well by a nearly-identical question on another site (say, computer science's stack exchange, or math overflow). Should those questions get answers ...
0
votes
1answer
194 views
An auto-comment on first questions that motivates sharing doubts and thoughts
Very often I see a user's first question getting down-voted and eventually it ends up being closed.
Usually I find this to be too rough of a treatment, as the user is not accustomed to the site. I ...
24
votes
4answers
1k views
Is it OK to automatically downvote homework questions that show no effort or etiquette?
I have seen a lot of very similar questions here, so I apologize if this is a duplicate. There is a related question at Closing questions that show no effort - official policy? I see this very often ...
47
votes
1answer
2k views
New recommended close reason for questions that are “missing context”
Recently, the software has been changed regarding how the closing reasons are displayed for people. If you don't have close-vote privileges or you are not OP, this is how it is displayed:
For ...
40
votes
2answers
771 views
Reconsidering custom close reasons on Math.SE
In the discussion this meta thread it was discovered, that the current custom close reason missing context or other details is much less specific than the other close reasons.
The answer to what is ...
36
votes
4answers
2k views
Can we please stop voting to close a question just because the question is short?
I have seen many times that somebody voted to close short questions (and probably downvoted the questions as well), even though the OP made clear that there had been good attempts. This thread is the ...
19
votes
2answers
506 views
Intended use of “seeking personal advice” close reason
In case you missed it, there's a new close reason:
Seeking personal advice. Questions about choosing a course, academic program, career path, etc. are off-topic. Such questions should be directed ...
13
votes
4answers
1k views
How to deal with just-google-it questions?
This post was reworked by me to more accurately convey my point. This may have rendered some comments obsolete.
This question has a follow-up here.
The problem
There are quite a few questions wich ...
8
votes
0answers
128 views
Clarification of what should be closed as a duplicate [duplicate]
Until today the word "duplicate" was clear to me, or so I thought, but I have just been confronted with the following situation: there is a question A from 2011 (with an accepted answer) and one other,...
-6
votes
1answer
404 views
How to promote explanation of closure in comments?
Earlier someone posted this question, suggesting leaving messages when closing a question, to inform the poster of specific things to do to improve the question.
My question is: How might we best ...
-16
votes
2answers
788 views
Should we allow moderators to unilaterally close questions?
At least one moderator has been unilaterally closing questions (e.g. with the first vote, for "missing context"). In the past, it has always been agreed that moderators should only use unilateral ...
12
votes
1answer
265 views
Grace period when a question is closed
Didn't there use to be a grace period of 5 minutes after a question was closed where answers could still be submitted, but where one can't start writing an answer? If there wasn't (and I have just ...
asked Jul 11 '12 at 18:14
hmakholm left over Monica
269k2 gold badges34 silver badges63 bronze badges
7
votes
2answers
591 views
Why was the Hamlet question reopened?
After the Why was the Hamlet question closed? reinvoked the interest of some users, the question was reopened.
I would like to open this to discussion, since I think that we should have let the ...
6
votes
3answers
157 views
migrated question incorrectly labeled as closed as off topic
I voted to migrate this question to physics.SE, as three others had done before me. I expected that it would be migrated once a fifth vote was cast, but when I checked on it I was suprised that it ...
6
votes
2answers
334 views
Behavior about answering and voting for closing a question.
When I see some question when OP doesn't show any effort, just throws the exercise in, but is something relatively simple, in my conception, I answer it just giving general directions, not elaborating ...
5
votes
1answer
328 views
Is it time to reopen: How do I calculate gambling edge using average win?
A probability theory question (here) was asked when this site was fairly new. I suspect that the closure of this question might be a result of being asked during the website's infancy -- to me, while ...
5
votes
2answers
572 views
Why is the reason for the down and close vote for this question?
Closed and reopened
I'm member of this site for almost 3 years, and I cannot understand why this question takes one down vote and 4 close votes. Can someone who can understand the reason for this ...
4
votes
2answers
375 views
The “Reopen request” thread and closures on meta
There is a thread that is used for reopen requests Requests for Reopen & Undeletion Votes, etc.
Some users do not use this thread for their questions on closed or deleted questions.
A main ...
3
votes
1answer
62 views
Close votes review tasks and close votes directly on the question: different counters?
When we do a "close vote" review task, then this increase the counter by one (and we get a badge when the counter reaches $250$ for example). However, when we decide to vote to close by clicking ...
3
votes
1answer
158 views
Closed vote invalidated before triggering review
I recently voted to closed several questions as duplicates: 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Somehow they have different fate: and first and the fourth one got into the review queue, and the fourth closed (by a gold-...
-1
votes
1answer
265 views
Is it okay to close a question due to bad/non-cooperative behaviour of OP?
Suppose, there is a question, which follows the guidelines for asking a question on this site. But, OP aren't being cooperative and nice in the comment section. Someone flags those comments, all the ...
-1
votes
3answers
897 views
Why do even high reputation users do not pay attention on close votes? [duplicate]
Recently, I have seen high reputation users, and top-reviewers (Such as amWhy, Shailesh etc.) voting for closing of questions, just out of the way. See this question. This is a nice question IMHO. It ...
31
votes
3answers
1k views
Voting to close due to OP's unresponsiveness
Recently, a user voted to close a question after answering it due to the OP being "unresponsive". (The answer is now deleted and available only to users with more than 10k reputation.)
What is the ...
